Several warehouses are caught in the middle of a legal dispute over radish seeds between Oregon farms and an out-of-state bank. Both the farms and the bank claim to own the radish seeds, which are currently stored at five Oregon warehouses.
Whether those warehouses are acting as “agents” of the farms or the bank will be a key legal question in a lawsuit that’s scheduled to go to trial on June 7.
The lawsuit involves multiple Oregon farms who are fighting for the right to sell off radish seeds they initially grew in 2014 under contract for Cover Crop Solutions, a Pennsylvania company that was unable to pay for the crops due to weather-related demand disruptions. The Oregon farms filed liens to ensure they’d be treated as secured creditors with collateral in the company’s assets if it went bankrupt.
Meanwhile, Northwest Bank of Warren, Pa., also claimed the radish seeds served as collateral for a $7 million loan taken out by Cover Crop Solutions. The dispute prompted the bank to file a lawsuit against numerous Oregon farms in federal court, seeking a declaration that it had a priority security interest in the seed.
As the June 7 trial date approaches, it now appears the role of warehouses used to store the seed will be pivotal in the litigation.